This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Dholakia, U. M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Concept discovery, process explanation, and theory deepening in e-marketing research: The case of online auctions

Rice University, USA

By reviewing recent consumer research on online auctions, the commentary distinguishes between three forms of e-marketing research: (1) concept discovery, leveraging advances in technology to identify and describe new concepts or phenomena of significance to marketers; (2) process explanation, seeking to provide insights into the psychological, social, and economic mechanisms underlying the discovered concepts or phenomena through asking and answering ‘when’ and ‘why’ questions; and (3) theory deepening, using the online environment as the setting or context to develop, elaborate on, and test general marketing and consumer behavior theories. It is argued that while there is substantial value in each of these research forms for advancing marketing knowledge, theory deepening has perhaps been the least popular form of research conducted in online environments thus far, but it may yet turn out to be the most significant and enduring form in the long run.

Key Words: concept discovery • consumer behaviour • digital marketing theory • e-marketing theory • online auctions • process explanation • theory deepening

Marketing Theory, Vol. 5, No. 1, 117-124 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1470593105049604


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?